Williams adds to All Blacks’ injury count
French coach Jacques Brunel can add Sonny Bill Williams to the growing list of All Blacks who won’t cause him any bother in June.
Yesterday, the All Blacks announced midfielder Williams had been rubbed out of the upcoming three-test series against France because he had aggravated ‘‘an old knee injury’’ at the national camp in Christchurch.
A statement released by the All Blacks noted Blues medical staff said an X-ray had showed a loose piece of bone in Williams’ knee joint, which required him to undergo keyhole surgery in Auckland.
The 32-year-old is not expected to be able to train for around four weeks, meaning he’s no chance of adding to his 46 tests in the test series which begins in Auckland next Saturday.
The injuries to Crusaders loosehead prop Tim Perry, who pinged a hamstring at the first camp, and Williams reinforces the need for a solution to how players can be better managed prior to the domestic tests. Because, clearly, none of this is ideal for anyone.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen says he doesn’t want camps during Super Rugby, arguing he has been compromised by a competition structure that doesn’t allow time for his squad to prepare prior to the tests; he also notes that it was the chief executives of the New Zealand teams that settled on the dates for the camps.
What all parties agree upon is this: that it has been messy and is far from ideal.
Brunel, who arrived in the country with the bulk of the French squad this week, can now compile a list of broken All Blacks who have been invalided out of the series.
Captain and No 8 Kieran Read is still recovering from surgery on his spine, hooker Dane Coles recently required another operation on the knee he injured against France in Paris on November 11 and loosehead prop Kane Hames hasn’t played Super Rugby due to concussion.
Tighthead prop Nepo Laulala, a team-mate of Hames, was unavailable for national selection after fracturing the bone in his forearm in early March.
It is sobering to think that of the 15 men who started that test against Les Bleus at Stade de France, at least five will not participate in the upcoming series because of their injuries.
But, wait, there’s more. A number of others who played the French in Paris are in doubt for the first test.
Lock Sam Whitelock, who was promoted to captain in place of the unavailable Read, has not played for the Crusaders since May 12 because of concussion while midfielder Ryan Crotty failed an HIA the following weekend and has not been sighted since.
If Whitelock is scratched from the first test, openside flanker Sam Cane, who is the All Blacks’ joint vice-captain with Ben Smith, could be elevated to the skipper’s role.
But that could hinge on whether Cane emerges unscathed from his duties with the Chiefs; he has not played for five weeks because of an abdominal strain and has been named on the bench for the match against the Crusaders.
Add Vaea Fifita, who started at blindside flanker at Stade de France, to this list. He has been nursing a sore shoulder and was bracketed on the Hurricanes bench for the game against the Highlanders last night.
Then there is the issue of several players being seriously undercooked. Loosehead prop Joe Moody will make his just his second appearance for the Crusaders in Hamilton because of injury and suspension, while fellow prop Owen Franks has played just four games for the same reason.
But they should be fit and available for the first test. They, at least, can give Brunel something to worry about.
New Zealand Rugby must not give up Pete Samu without a fight on the back of the dangerous exit of Brad Shields.
NZR and Australia are in a tug o’ war over Crusaders flanker Samu, with the Wallabies eager for his services.
Samu is an interesting case in that he’s Melbourne-born but has polished his game in New Zealand since 2014 with Tasman and then the Crusaders.
His lengthy spell in New Zealand now means he has dual eligibility.
Ultimately it’s his choice which country he plays for but while he’s under contract in New Zealand and technically available to the All Blacks, the bosses in Wellington must hold firm.
The ability of England to snare Shields while he’s in the middle of his final Super Rugby season has set an alarming precedent.
New Zealand can’t be seen as a breeding ground or finishing school for other countries to plunder.
Given the way that New Zealand constantly sets the playing standards, every major rival country is scouring the Kiwi stocks looking for players with family links to their nations.
Once fiercely patriotic rugby countries like Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England aren’t ashamed to boost their ranks with players coming out of a proven New Zealand system.
To have the Wallabies now involved in this should come as no surprise given the perilous state of the game over there.
They need to do everything they can to harness a competitive Wallabies team and boost a shop window that hasn’t been attracting many new fans of late.
Reports suggest NZR is holding out for what is essentially a $50,000 transfer fee for Samu.
If that’s so, then it deserves every cent of that for bringing Samu up to test standard.
The cash-strapped Aussies might be balking at that but in these days of professional sport, this figure is small change.
New Zealand’s talent pool is deep but not so deep that every rival coach can be diving in looking for athletes.
Shields was granted an early and ‘‘temporary release’’ to join England on their June tour of South Africa based on his ‘‘loyal service’’ to rugby in New Zealand.
NZR could have dug its heels in over Shields and forced a test case which, long-term, might have been in its better interests.
To find Australia knocking at the door for Samu a few weeks later shouldn’t come as any surprise.
It’s why NZR needs to stay strong over this latest case for the sake of its own future.
Releasing Shields was a big concession.
This wasn’t some long-serving All Black looking to head away for a huge pay cheque at the end of his career. Shields is a 27-year-old in his prime, being taken away not by a wealthy European club but by a test outfit from a country that is one of the All Blacks’ main rivals in their quest for a hat-trick of World Cups.
Shields is a player who England coach Eddie Jones will be hoping comes back to haunt the All Blacks.
Fellow loose forward Samu is in his prime, too, at 26.
But if NZR has any grounds to hold on to Samu for a few more months, or if it can get some financial reward for having taken his game to the next level, then it should hold its ground.